School-Age Financial Aid Program

School-Age Financial Aid Program

About the Program

The School-Age Financial Aid program is for students with a pre-lingual bilateral hearing loss in the moderately-severe to profound range who use listening and spoken language. Awards are intended to assist with educational costs such as tuition, books, equipment, room and board, auditory and speech-language support services, academic tutoring, transportation, and other school-related expenses. This program is not applicable to students who are being home schooled, attend public school or are in college.

These are one-time awards made generally in the month of July for the upcoming school year. Award amounts vary; in 2017, awards ranged from $800 to $1,500.

Eligibility Criteria

In order to be eligible for this program, applicants must meet all of the following criteria:

The child’s bilateral hearing loss or Auditory Neuropathy must have been diagnosed before the child’s fourth birthday. Children with unilateral (one-sided) hearing loss or unilateral Auditory Neuropathy do not qualify.

The child’s hearing loss must be in the moderately-severe to profound range. This means that applicants must have an unaided Pure-Tone Average (PTA) of 55 dB or greater in the better hearing ear, in the speech frequencies of 500, 1000, 2000 and 4000 Hz.* Children with cochlear implants meet this eligibility requirement.

*This may not apply for children who have been diagnosed with Auditory Neuropathy. For information on required documentation for AN, please see the “documentation” section on the next page.

Formula for calculating the PTA:

On the unaided audiogram, look at the results for the better hearing ear at 500, 1000, 2000 and 4000 Hz and add those four numbers together, then divide that total by four. The result is the Pure Tone Average. To be eligible for this award, the child’s PTA must be 55 dB or greater.

Listening and Spoken Language must be the child’s primary mode of communication.

The child must be enrolled or registered as a full-time student for the school year beginning in the fall of 2018 in grades one through twelve in a mainstream parochial, independent or private elementary or secondary school. Please Note: Public school, home school & post-secondary students do not meet this criterion.

The parent(s)/guardian(s) and child must reside in the United States (including territories) or in Canada.

Parents/guardians should be able to clearly outline their need for financial assistance and plans for use of any awarded funds.

The application period for 2018 is now closed.

ØWe are not able to confirm receipt of applications. If you would like confirmation that your application was delivered, you may choose to Request Delivery Receipt if you are submitting your application by e-mail, or send your application using a service that can confirm delivery – please do not require a signature as this can delay delivery. AG Bell does not accept responsibility for any delays or delivery errors on the part of delivery services. To ensure timely delivery, applicants are encouraged to submit applications well in advance of the deadline.

ØFaxed applications are not accepted.

ØLate and incomplete applications are not considered under any circumstances.

ØApplications are not returned for any reason.

Please do not contact AG Bell seeking an exception to these guidelines.

Administrative Process

Once an application is received, it is screened for eligibility and completeness. Following the application deadline, eligible applications are forwarded to the award selection committee for review; ineligible applications are discarded.

The selection process will take approximately 8 to 10 weeks. Once the selection of awards is made by the committee, notification will be emailed to all applicants – those who were selected as well as those who were not selected to receive an award.

Awards will be issued during the month of July.

Do You Have Questions or Need Clarification?

Send an email with your question(s) to: [email protected]Response time may be up to three business days, so please plan accordingly when submitting your questions.

Working globally to ensure that people who are deaf and hard of hearing can hear and talk.

We want all families to be informed and supported, professionals to be appropriately qualified to teach and help children with hearing loss, public policy leaders to effectively address the needs of people with hearing loss, and communities to be empowered to help their neighbors with hearing loss succeed.